Remnant

I have stood on this hilltop for as long as I can remember, never bothering anyone, simply enjoying the sun and the rain and the wind. I have many friends that I can see from where I stand; they all huddle close together and wave to me when we talk, but I have always had my own space here on this hill. I wonder if that's what drew them to me.

I was still young when those two first appeared. I do not know where they came from, they simply ran up the hill and started dancing around. "Humans" they are called. Such strange creatures, really. Not like the birds who arrive by air and sing sweetly. Not nearly as nervous as the squirrels. Like those other creatures though, these humans did like to sit in my arms and eat my fruit, so perhaps they are not that strange. I was… curious about them more than anything, so I let them stay.

I would later find out that one of these humans was male and the other female. The male was always smiling and rushing this way and that. The girl would laugh mischievously and taunt him in their strange language. But always so fleeting was their play, for as soon as the sun began to set they would disappear. Back to their nest I assumed. One of my friends suggested they must come from the human home. That seemed impossible, how could ones so small travel such a distance when they cannot fly like birds? And why would they come all the way here anyway? I would gaze at the human home everyday from where I stand. Down the hill and far away. A place of stone and metal, which glows with sunlight even at night! I wondered if all humans had the magic to create light.

These small humans came often to play on my hilltop, just the two of them, never more, never separate. Sometimes they would even play with my friends and me, racing between us, hiding behind us. Once I held a rope for them to swing on. They would laugh and I would laugh too, so I did not interfere.

I watched as they grew older, and while they did not come as regularly, when they did they would stay for longer. Sometimes they would bring one of their tamed foxes with them. An odd creature, always barking and chewing on my discarded limbs. Though I thought that morbid, it caused me no harm. The only harm ever done to me by my humans was when the male once produced a small blade and carved something into my side. I felt as the blade dug into me, tracing a shape like two domes on top meeting at an arrow point on the bottom. In my pain, I listened as the female said something and I learned my first word in their strange, fast-spoken language: heart. One of my friends witnessed the grim ritual and said the mark is supposed to represent love. Human love is painful.

Like a juvenile in spring, that love only grew and blossomed. As the years went on, I did not see them as often, but when they visited me I could tell they had seen each other. Their comfort with one another was infectious, and I felt at peace when they were around, though I did not intrude for fear of breaking the spell. I remember one time the male presented the female with a small heart-shaped trinket on a chain. He flicked a latch and the shing metal capsule popped open, revealing something inside to the female that caused her to breathe deeply and smile before he gently closed it and tenderly placed it around her neck. Though I could not understand the words spoken, I understood the significance. That night they used their magic to produce a small sun on top of a pile of my discarded limbs. I worried as I felt the heat and saw old parts of me turn to ash, but their comfort with it put me at ease. They watched the stars and I, breathing deeply the pleasant smoke, watched with them.

Soon after, or at least it seemed so to me, they held another ceremony, this time one with many dead flowers which they had scattered on the ground, held in their hands, or had pinned to their clothing. And there were more humans, more than I had ever seen! Some of these humans were not like mine, they were different shapes and colors. I suppose that is not so strange; it reminds me of myself and my friends. The one thing they did share was their apparent happiness, my female friend the most joyous of all in her gown like fresh fallen snow. A man in black stood at my feet and my friends stood before him, reciting something in their strange tongue. They even let me be part of their ceremony, having me hold up many of their little magical suns enclosed in glass and connected by a strange rope. Following the ceremony there was much cheering and dancing. I longed to join them, but they had entrusted me to hold their suns so I did not intrude. I merely waved my hands along to strange music.

When next I saw them they sat at my feet eating, but the female looked different. Her stomach was so round! One of my friends had said that can happen to humans when they eat too much, but how much had she eaten? Human bodies are so strange, soft and easily changed. They returned shortly after that day, and for the first time they were somber. I looked at the female and her stomach was flat once more. She must have starved herself! The man dug a hole at my feet, and together they lowered a small box into it. Water leaked from their faces and their breathing shuddered. They mumbled something then stood together in silence for a while. Finally they walked away, water droplets still falling to the grass. I didn't understand, they had always been so joyful when they came to visit me. Why were they sad? What had happened? Slowly I reached my roots towards the box they had buried, and when I felt inside, my soul wept.

My humans continued to visit me as time went on, but I never saw the female's stomach so swollen again. I remember they were there the day everything changed. They sat beneath me and together we looked out towards the human home when suddenly shapes began to descend from the sky. At first I thought they were birds, but they were larger and made of metal. Three hovered right over the human home, and for a moment all was calm. Then rays of intense light emitted from the strange beasts and the human home erupted in a burst of sunshine. It was not a gentle sun like my humans had created near me, but violent and billowing with black smoke. My humans sprang to their feet, the male bellowing in anger and fear, and together they raced off.

I watched from my hilltop as the world changed. The sun where the home had been grew and spread across the land while black smoke filled the sky. And more of those metal beasts kept arriving. Time passed and I watched my friends around me die, suffocated by the poisoned air and intense heat. Just when I had lost all hope, the female human stood before me one night. It was the first time I had seen her on her own. I was overjoyed to have her here, but something was… off. She looked weathered. The mischievousness and the joy of her youth was gone, and her face was like a stone. She gently ran a hand over the scar the male had carved into me all those years before. With water leaking from her face, she removed the heart-shaped locket and tucked it into a knot in my side, just above the scar I had come to cherish. Then she ran off into what was left of the forest. I never saw her again.

I am not sure how long ago that was. Years? Decades even? I cannot tell. All I know is that the world is not as I once knew it. The humans are gone, their home reduced to ash. Instead, new creatures walk in their place, larger, with two extra limbs and skin the color of a meadow. They built new homes for themselves over the ruins of the humans', and expanded all the way up to me. They cut down all my friends, but for some reason I am left standing in my own space, a remnant of what has passed. I have heard whispers from the grass that some humans still survive, though they live underground now. But a human is not a gopher! They are not meant to be underground! I sometimes wonder if my humans are among them.

I stand here now, watching the new creatures move around me. A youth kicks a ball over to me and comes to retrieve it. As it stands up, it looks at me, at my scar, at the knot in my side. And the locket within. It reaches for it.

No. These creatures, these… invaders came to my home and ruined it! They killed my friends. They scared off the birds and the squirrels. They destroyed the lives of my humans! The ones who loved me, who let me be a part of their love, their ceremonies. Who let me hold their suns and their son!

It reaches for the locket.

Enough! I have stood idle my whole life, not interfering, not bothering others. Simply enjoying the sun and the rain and the wind. But how can I enjoy such things when I have no one to share them with? I will not let these creatures take the one token I have of the life and the friends I once had.

It reaches for the locket.

And for once, I hit back.